Spanish scientist creates bioplastics for patches
Allowing for controlled release of drugs into patients
A materials engineer at Spain’s University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU) has developed new bioplastics that can be used to make capsules and skin patches releasing drugs into patients in a controlled way.
Groundbreaking work by Ainhoa Lejardi has enabled her to create new materials from PVA (poly(vinyl alcohol)) polymer, with new properties that could be exploited by medicine manufacturers. Her discoveries have been published in the journals Polymer and Macromolecules.
The European Commission says Lejardi focused on PVA because it is ‘biocompatible, biodegradable, [and] water soluble…and therefore highly suited to use in biomedicine’. As well as patches and capsules, it can also be used in gels that dry on skin-contact.
Lejardi used the esterification process to blend PVA with PCL (poly(epsilon-caprolactone)) and according to the EC ‘obtained an improvement in biocompatibility’. There were also good results from a blend with PVP (poly(vinyl-pyrrolidone)).
‘We knew PVP could be blended with PVA, but we saw that when the blend was carried out with our esterificates, the hydrogen bonds turned out to be more robust,’ said Lejardi.
She is now to continue her work at Madrid’s Institute of Polymer Science and Technology (ICTP-CSIC).